Florida voters give Sen. Marco Rubio’s bad reviews for his mixed signals on immigration, don’t like his opposition to requiring background checks for gun buyers and both of those positions haven’t done much to win over voters in a 2016 match-up against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

Despite that showing, Florida’s junior senator still gets a 51-35 percent job approval rating, little changed from his 48-33 percent approval by a March 20 poll from the independent Quinnipiac University.

Rubio’s numbers show that as the nation’s best-known Hispanic-American politician, he “has a tightrope to walk between keeping the folks back home happy and serving as a high-profile symbol for the GOP nationally,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in a statement.

“A mark of an able politician is one who can keep his support among the electorate even when that politician follows his own path rather than the public’s preference on a high-profile issue like immigration or gun control,” he said.

Still, when it comes to individual issues, voters are not as enamored with Rubio’s performance. They disapproved 41-33 percent with the way he is handling the immigration issue and voters say 49-10 percent they think less favorably of him because of his opposition to expanded background checks for gun buyers.

Rubio performs better than President Barack Obama, whose job approval
among Florida voters has dropped to 47-48 percent, compared to 50-45
percent in a similar March 21 poll.

Still Obama does better in
Florida than in other states, a sign of the residual support from his
2008 and 2012 campaigns when he carried the state. A May 30 Quinnipiac
University national poll showed him with a negative 45-49 percent job
approval while Florida voters still rank him “honest and trustworthy”
50-45 percent.

Florida voters overwhelmingly support background checks, with 73 percent in favor of them including 63 percent of voters in houses with guns. Another 14 percent of all voters support them somewhat.

But when it comes to the prospects for the presidential race in 2016, Rubio’s hispanic heritage still does not give him the edge with Florida Hispanics over Clinton. Hispanics support the Democrat over Rubio in Florida 58 to 35 percent and 52 to 36 percent over Florida’s other favorite Republican son, Jeb Bush.

The poll shows that Clinton would defeat Bush 50-43 to the trial match-up and best Rubio 53-41 -- with Clinton leading both Republicans among crucial independent voters. Clinton, 65, ran an unsuccessful bid for president in 2008 and hasn't ruled out running again in 2016. Rubio, elected to the Senate in 2010, is widely viewed to be a more likely candidate for a presidential run than Bush.

Florida voters overwhelmingly support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, with 58 percent of Florida voters supporting compared to 24 percent who say they should be deported and 12 percent say they should be allowed to stay with no path to citizenship.

Supporting a path to citizenship are 54 percent of white voters, 66 percent of black voters and 69 percent of Hispanic voters.

Meanwhile, the poll also underscored why Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s job approval rating still remains underwater at 43 percent. The governor’s veto of a bill to make it easier for children of undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses contradicts public support for the issue 59-32 percent, including 53 percent support among whites and 72 and 80 percent among blacks and Hispanics.

The governor’s veto does cater to the Republican base, however, as 48 percent of GOP voters surveyed oppose making it easier for working children of undocumented workers to drive legally, compared to 42 percent who support the idea.

On other controversial statewide issues, Florida voters remain supportive of expanding Medicaid coverage for Floridians without health insurance by 49-40 percent, virtually unchanged from a similar March poll. And Voters continue to support the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, allowing people to fight back with deadly force when threatened, 57 to 36 percent.
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